Trade post plus the giveaway of FREE baseball cards

 The winner last night was BO.... again. lol.

Last week I received 2 PWE's from fellow OCTers. (OLDCARDTRADERS), a group of vintage traders that I belong to. Now, most but not all collect modern stuff too along with other sports and non sports cards. These two were not expected, either a blind trade (which I do a lot of) or payback for something I sent in recent months.

First envelope had a pair of 59's inside. I haven't checked yet, but they are probably on my needs list for the set build.

The 2nd PWE contained food issues. Braves at that. For the team set I needed the Capra, Evans, and Matthews. I also needed the Roach Post. I'll have to check the set builds for those other Hostess to see if I needed them there. 

The same day I received those two envelopes I also received a bubble mailer from Dime Box. I will show that off in two separate posts. Thanks guys appreciate the cards!

Have a great weekend!

The other story and the almost daily giveaway too

 The winner last night was: SanJose Fuji

Okay, let's get to my other story. I will try to make this one go very quick. The Villages card show as a couple of weeks ago, and the week leading up to the show there were at least two maybe a third blog that I read posting about the 1956 Topps. I even commented on Owl's about how I only had about 73 cards and would likely never complete it.

Half way through the show I got to the dealer that always has lesser conditioned partial sets. I bought many of them a few years back, skipped them these last two years the prices were NUTS. I stopped in my tracks right away. There was a binder that the insert he put in the plastic on the front of the binder stated 91% complete $1,300.00. I perused through it, and I be damned, the set wasn't missing any cards, not one. The Mantle was there Jackie, Willie, Sandy everyone. I closed the book, it was a done deal in my head. Made me a little queasy for a second, he asked what was wrong. I handed him the book, first mistake. I said to him we need to talk about this binder, 2nd mistake. By then the dealer started flipping through the pages, and landed on the Mantle and he realized that was the wrong book or insert. He said this is wrong, pointed to a dry erase board where he listed the partial and the complete set. $6,400.00. He pulled out the insert. I should have just stroked a check and left. My mouth cost me a deal! My conscious would have eaten me up though, so I guess I can live in peace. I was heartbroken for sure, and now I am truly sick to my stomach. I wanted that damn complete set, boom one fell swoop. Nah, he looked around didn't find the correct binder for the insert he had out. He did have another 56' binder partially complete (76%). He said it was in better shape than the other one. 

I told the guy you know me, I was dead set on that 1,300.00, no way am I forking out $2K for one that still needs 24% of the cards......the key cards at that.  We start haggling back and forth, my answer was the same for the 5 or 6 rounds we went, $1,300.00 plus I need a couple of big names. He showed me another Mantle and it was super sweet compared to the one in the first binder. Nope, he wasn't throwing that one in, he wanted $3.4K for it. He had a couple of Mays at $450.00 each. he was doing that either. I could have gone with some bigger names than what I took, but settled for a pair of Braves HOFers.

Those are sticker prices he wanted for those two cards. WE made the deal for the binder that now had 260 cards and twelve HOFers. What is really weird, is the 70 ish cards I had only four or five that doubled up with the binder.  Now I only need 64 cards not to mention I had the Aaron already, so 1 big name down. If I had only kept my mouth shut. One that could and would never happen. I once bought myself a comical license plate for the front a vehicle (only one on the back is required down here). I kept it on a bookcase it said: Help, I'm talking and can't shut up! Still, I will remember that for a very very long time.

Here is my needs list:

1956 TOPPS: 5, 8, 11, 15, 24, 25, 26, 30, 33, 42, 61, 62, 63, 72, 77, 79, 80, 83, 89, 99, 101, 110, 111, 120, 121, 125, 130, 140, 145, 146, 150, 166, 176, 177, 181, 184, 187, 188, 190, 194, 213, 225, 226, 233, 235, 240, 250, 251, 252, 263, 280, 288, 292, 295, 299, 303, 306, 308, 320, 321, 324, 328, 332, 335.

It is absolutely okay for you to cheery pick the big names and send them too me. I promise I won't mind.

I've got a story to tell.

 I actually have two culminating at the The Villages card show last month. Technically, one started when I returned from Georgia and unpacked the tubs with my binders in them. After deciding the financially wise thing to do was convert my garage, I began unpacking everything that I could without making a further mess in the garage. It was literally jammed packed to inches of the door ceiling high with no path to get around. I had already ordered twelve 6' tall bookcases which I would have needed no matter where I put my cards. My original plan (going back years) was to place the bookcases in the two (at the time) spare bedrooms and in my living room. No can do that anymore. At least for now, I know that at some point my daughter and grandson will find a place of their own (hopefully not for awhile). I kind of like the family life that exists, and even though we all have had to make adjustments (ongoing of course) I like it and want it to last for as long as possible. 

The garage, the bookcases, and land clearing. You may wonder what does land clearing have to do with my baseball cards, and for good reason. I assure you it was a necessity. I'll explain, I cut all of the trees down in my back yard...dozens some large, some medium, and some small ones too. It isn't the first time I've done so. They just kept growing back after all I built this house in 2004. I made up my mind to to be done with them once and for all. The trees and stumps were removed on Jan. 18/19. But, the bigger problem and permanent solution is to get rid of the roots. That has been a terrible journey. I couldn't even get someone to come out for the "site-prep" work as it is called until the end of March. (I had a guy come over today to do an estimate). Why is the an issue? You see I need to have a shed/barn placed outback so that I can store things like mowers, tools, and other boxed items that are seldom used including some furniture too. They are taking up valuable space in the garage. The pool table doesn't help either, but over the years I found myself using it to sort cards, large sorts that is. I have a lot of that to do for sure now, so it will have to stay for a bit longer. 

Back to the bookcases. Four were in stock and have since been installed, the other eight cases are on backorder and no telling how long they will be. Meanwhile I unpacked the binders and just crammed them onto the 4 bookcases that arrived. I have two book cases in my bedroom that are full too, but need to be um.... re-organized at some point. For now they are fine. 

So I managed to get nearly all of the binders that are already made up with cards in them (still need to make up a hundred more) onto the shelves and on top and some still need to rest elsewhere. Yeah, that is busy work ahead there, but one I will certainly enjoy once I get to that. So, by now you have certainly be under the impression that this story is about my garage, but it isn't. Seriously, it isn't. 

No, this story is about two MISSING binders. After unloading all of the binders from the tubs I could not find my 1958 Topps (more on that at the end) nor could I find my complete NM 1975 Topps set, beautiful set. I also just happen to keep the mini's in that binder too. No where near complete on the mini's, but very proud the mostly NM base set. My stomach was upset, I was upset. Horrible feeling.  At the show there 75's calling out to me all over the place. I found this one seller that had a box of low grade with 375 cards in it. It was only $50.00 and included all of the cards above which were laying on top of the other cards in the 800 count box. There were some dupes too, but 375 different. I figured $50.00 was a good deal. So I bough them. It didn't set well with me that I was getting cards that I know I would need to upgrade, then I remembered that I have a huge hundreds maybe even a thousand 75' dupes and some of those are EX or better. I knew there wasn't a spare Yount or Brett, or did I? Maybe in the PC's so my mind was stuck on 75's which was replacing the other thing that was stuck on my mind  and I guess that was good. The other thing came first about an hour into the show, and that will be the "OTHER" story I tell tomorrow. 

I wandered the through the show ultimately to finish up where I started the guy who had the packs/boxed sets originally at 2 for a buck and I paid 3 for $1. Yeah, that guy you may remember that I also bought a handful of singles from him for $40.00 too. Anyways this story has dragged on now and you probably want it to end, so here it is wrapped up in a nutshell. The seller's name was Art Romano, he used to be an Upper Deck distributor back in the 90's and also carried some Fleer products like Flair. Not that that has anything to do with the story. He texted me yesterday, too to see if I wanted any 78's or 79's. I politely said no, I have thousands of those for sure. 

The nutshell: I bought the low grade 75's for $50.00, price good me still no happy. Art had a few binders of vintage with 68-76' all beautiful condition EX or better and I mean better like my old set. Now, there were no super stars in there, but the cards were sweet, so I made an offer on all three binders. He accepted, there were get this 375 different, and a couple dozen dupes. None would have to be upgraded. The stack once I pulled them from the binder was identical to the size of the other 75's I bought. I'm thinking fate was at play. Of course I didn't pay $50.00 for that lot, a whole lot more we are talking thousands of EX-NM vintage cards here. I won't say what I paid, I did overpay, but I wanted to put the 75' issue to rest as fast as possible, and this would do it. 

To end this story or saga by now: I was emptying a cardboard box the other day with empty card boxes in it, (200, 400, 800 ct). Low and behold my damn 75' binder was at the bottom. I am happy about that. Not happy that I spent hundreds that I didn't need too. So now I have a ton more of 75's which I already had plenty of very very nice dupes. The 1958 Topps binder was not there though. I remembered this isn't the first time I misplaced my 58 binder. After a quick blog search, looks like in January of 2022, I posted about it. One year nearly to the date I noticed again. It is still missing, my guess someone walked off with it back when I first noticed it.

If this story got your gut, just wait until tomorrow!

The winner last night was Jeremy.

Back to The Villages card show

 Last night's winner was : Bo

Getting back to the purchases I made a couple of weekends ago now. 

Okay all of these came from 1 seller on the back row (I skipped a couple of purchases because they will have their own story to tell.....Big story at least to me. This dealer had about 4 tables 3 of which had glass cases, with a sign on each stating half off prices marked. The Police set above is an example of what the marked prices were and yes that is what I believe a complete set. There are a couple of guys that I could pull out for my PC's which I usually do, but I haven't done so as of now. I may already have them. If there is a Dodger collector reading this that doesn't have this set already let me know.

I scooped up the Babe Ruth special cards (subset if you will) that would make for one of the Owl's newest themes. Although I completed the 82' Topps set, and I think that I have that Ripken RC in the PC too (remember I also grabbed another Ripken RC at this show too) just not positive and I figure you can't have too many of those rookies especially as I paid a whopping $40.00 for everything above. Was that a good deal, I don't know. I felt good about it when I did it, and still do so I guess it's okay. 

I also grabbed up a stack of about 100 1984-88 World Wide Sports (basically the beginning of the Conlon Collection sets). I paid $5.00 for those.

They were all series 4 or 5 and I only needed 19 of them (only scanned 18 for obvious reasons). I thought this was complete of ser. 4 and 5, but the big stars had been pulled.

I do have a want list for these listed to the left under the set builds tab and then Conlon. What I really really really need is the last complete set of the actual Conlon sets. That would be nice. 1995 set cards 1321-1430.

Anyway, there are two posts left that each have a story behind them. I will keep the posts short, but to the point so you all get what I went through.

Masonic Monday: Charles Lindbergh and of course the contest

 Friday night produced a new winner: Chris (make sure I have your address).

There you go, another week of history. President's Day is coming on the 20th, and I have so many Presidents to cover, especially our 1st who had 4 covers. They are a little (okay a lot) different than what we have been seeing on this theme so I have combined the 4  into two posts. The first will be next Monday as a prelim to the following Monday.

The Villages card show: Part 2

 Going to be a brief one tonight. The next purchase at the show was from tables that had a bunch of magazines, programs, and yearbooks. The first table had a sign that read $1.00. I made my way through those and found two that I liked.

Apparently he originally had these at $3.00 each, and at a buck no problem. He seen what I grabbed and said to me that if I like HOF stuff there was some more on the last table. 

Matching up the program with the yearbook. This table had a sign reading $4.00 each.

Jr. you bet.

 Jeter: not a problem, especially when he let me have all 5 books for $10.00. I was pleased for sure. 

The winner last night was: RJ

The Villages card show along with the Easy peazy CONTEST and Groundhog Day!

 Here we are again, a new month (yesterday) and I forgot to post my usual monthly reminder of the almost daily giveaway/contest. The rules are simple.

1) Follow this blog.

2) Comment before midnight (EST) on that day's post.

Bad news today: 6 more weeks of winter. No Phil.... you suck! Then again he is wrong 61% of the time so this might be a good thing that he seen his shadow. 

Did you know that Topps is releasing a 2nd set this month? Yeah, another 2022 set. Topps Chrome Sonic. At least they did something different than what they did with the Chrome Sapphire (using the Flagship players and numbers for the Sapphire set, well partially on the Update. As for the new product, 225 card set last 5 are SP's (no Braves yeah), There are also 10 image variations and again no Braves.

The winner last night was: Jafronius

Only had 1 bonus winner and that was Jeremy for getting the other teams correct (I have something special for that Bonus you can get it when you come to house this month). No one got the #2 correct. It was a tie with White Sox and Phillies both having 3. 

Derek was close on #1 but got 1 White Sox wrong as it was a Yankee player that fooled him. RJ added the Marlins (nope), left out the Reds, Nats, and Boston. 

One of the good things about being home full time is that I don't have to drive hours to get to a card show. The Village's (the world's largest retirement community) hosts a big show 4x a year. There was one this past Saturday and I went. I had forgotten how long it takes to get there, I was thinking 20 minutes but it took nearly 40 minutes, but that is still very okay with me. I might make the 3 1/2 hour drive each way to Jax for their show next Saturday (just not sure right now), I hope to just don't like the idea of the drive now that I'm not in Valdosta. 

On to my card show visit.

My first purchase was a bunch of junk sets I could not pass up. The dealer had a tub of cards marked 2 for a buck. I rummaged through them I picked up 29.

These are the junk sets that I was talking about. I didn't need any of these and probably have dozens of each of these sets. I couldn't pass them up at .50.

I was really glad to find these in the box. These I opened. Anyways I did not pay the 2 for buck as advertised, he only charged me $10.00 for the 29 sets/packs.

From the same seller I made two other purchases.

I paid $40.00 for these 8 cards. I know I needed ever one of them except maybe the Michael Jordan which I haven't checked that one yet (I did check the others). I know I have some the UDCC Jordan cards but I don't remember seeing this one.

I will get to the last purchase from this seller (on my way out the door) in a different post. 

The next purchase was just two cards from a pair of elderly ladies. They had a bunch of autographed photos and memorabilia on the 2 little tables they were at. But across the front of 1 of the tables they were laying out mainly autographed and relics of people I never heard of with a sign saying half off prices marked. I picked two cards. One was marked a dollar, and the other was marked $5.00. Now, I knew who these two were one more so than the other. I reached in my wallet and seen I had 2 singles, so I asked if 2 was okay (instead of the $3) and she said sure.

I needed the America's Pastime for that set build fortunately (I didn't know), and Longoria relic. $2.00 for these two cards was a good thing.

I'll have more from the show tomorrow and the next day too. Maybe 1 or 2 posts next week as well.

Another completed set.

The winner last night was: Fuji

This completed set is the 2022 Finest Flashbacks set. All 200 base cards (not any of the SPs). I do want the SP's feel free to send them my way x2. LOL.

Dansby is sporting one of my all time favorite Braves uniforms. Those throwbacks can be sweet.

I love it when a Brave makes the centerpiece, especially when another Brave took spot #1. The Braves are not the first team in this set to double up on 1 page.

Max Fried in the middle.

Another great page, and not because it shows the same image of Pache that Fuji used tonight. Not Mr. Austin Riley makes this a great page for me.

Ian Anderson pulls a top row card.

Braves doubling up on that top row center card again.

Kyle sliding into spot #1 works for me.

Three Braves on one page, terrific. And the first team to do that as well.

Rosario must have nailed a homer with that grin.

 

Homework time. The Braves were the first team with two and three players on a 9 card page. 

Bonus freebie  #1: Name all of the other teams to get multiple players on a page.

Bonus freebie #2: What team had the most multi player pages?

The first to answer correctly #2 will get a free vintage card or two.

Everyone that gets the answers to #1 correct will win cards too.

Happy February 1st.